Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

Eddie: Good morning Phil, Do you feel the quality of referees has gone down since VAR has been introduced? So many referees now rely on the system and question themselves that we rarely see one sticking to their on-field decision.

Hello, Eddie. Very difficult to judge that. You’d probably have to study stats on that as well, but I do have a view that officials are now relying too much on VAR. And we all know what happens when they are called to the screen – decision overturned nearly every time

Nic, if you were my friend, I'd be buying you a woolly jumper every birthday and Christmas.

Haha, not you lot thumbs downing the suggestion that we talk about football news on our football news live text!

I guess it's come for FA Cup reaction, stay for more tales of Aly the liver donor.

The good news is we've got plenty more examples of football pettiness. Nic from Nottingham has sent in a great text...

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says the planned new football regulator will be "a waste of money".

The Football Governance Bill, which will establish a first independent regulator for the professional men's game in England, was initially tabled under the former Tory government in March 2024.

It failed to pass through Parliament before the Conservatives were ousted from power by Labour in the general election.

The Football Governance Bill was then reintroduced by the new government in October and is currently making its way through the House of Lords before being debated by MPs in the Commons.

"I think a football regulator is going to be a waste of money," Badenoch, who has previously opposed the bill, told the Telegraph's Daily T podcast., external

"When I speak to people in the industry, they don't think it's going to work. So why are we doing it?"

Stephan Shemilt
BBC Sport chief cricket reporter

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has agreed to buy a 49% share in Hundred cricket franchise Trent Rockets.

Cain International, founded by American Boehly and British businessman Jonathan Goldstein, have agreed a £40m with Nottinghamshire for the stake in the Rockets, valuing the entire franchise at £79m.

Cain, a real investment company, were in the running for a stake in London Spirit, before a 49% share in the Lord's team was sold to a Silicon Valley consortium for £145m.

It's been a great morning, hasn't it?

I have got a little carried away with the Get Involveds though, so let me update you with a couple of bits of news.

To Lawrence's friends, next time you've got him round I dare you to cook him something from one of Delia Smith's recipe books.

Mike Richards
Everton fan writer

David Moyes has brought a sense of calm and enabled the team to pull away from the bottom three, hopefully meaning we can approach the game as something of a 'free hit'.

As a fan, I want a blood and thunder approach - a throwback to a time when derbies meant more and we were closer to Liverpool than we currently are.

Last season's 2-0 win is all the players need draw on before the game. The belief should be there.

I would imagine the manager approaches the game fairly pragmatically, sprinkled with some controlled emotional spice.

Wonder if Sir Jim is following?

I love these football live texts. After a brief spell out with an ACL knock last week we're back and one of our followers has just said they have a magic liver that has put a curse on Manchester United.

Hold the Tottenham chat, Aly the liver donor has chosen to respond...

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer

Phil Kemp: With Tottenham trophy-less for 16 years, why is there so much focus on that compared to the likes of Aston Villa (28) or Newcastle United (56)?

Hello, Phil. I think the focus has certainly been on Newcastle United, simply because it is such a long time since they enjoyed success, Villa maybe less so because they broke through one glass ceiling in reaching the Champions League.

A club of Tottenham’s stature will always be under the microscope and I think that is even more intense because of the churn of managers. It has been increased recently because they are having such a poor run and because chairman Daniel Levy has changed so many managers over the years. It just increases the pressure on those in the job when they have a bad run.

Easy way to stop the talk is to win something. Ange Postecoglou did say he always wins something in his second season.

And, just in case we forget, Spurs can still win the Europa League.

Puts all our suggestions to shame, doesn't it?

Still, might as well keep texting in. They're giving those in the BBC Sport office a good laugh.

Everton

Image source, Getty Images

Everton are sweating on the fitness of left-back Vitalii Mykolenko after the Ukrainian missed the FA Cup defeat by Bournemouth because of a calf injury.

Should the 25-year-old be ruled out again tomorrow, it will likely leave Ashley Young, in his 40th year, to deal with Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah.

For all Young's experience, at this stage of his career David Moyes would probably rather not put him up against arguably the best player in the league this season, at least not from the start.

We'll see if there is any update from Moyes in his news conference at 13:30 GMT.

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz - not that one - pressed his claims for a place in the starting XI with an impressive debut off the bench at the weekend.

The midfielder hit the post from a free-kick and showed plenty of tenacity and positive running after coming on as a 65th-minute substitute.